November Review - Five Hours Of Grind Remain

November was a pretty mediocre month from a poker perspective. As I write this I'm sitting at 997.5k VPPs on the year, so I will be reaching SNE in the next few days, most likely on Wednesday the 2nd of December. I ran a little poorly in November (especially at 100PL games and to a lesser extent 200NL), but the overall results aren't awful. Like October, I didn't get any help from milestone bonuses so all my profit came from straight winnings and rakeback (FPP value).



The bottom line:
$7764.95 winnings
$3931.82 FPP value (70,221 VPPs * 3.5 FPPs/VPP * 1.6c/FPP)
-------------------------------------------------------
$11,696.77 USD total profit. Or around ~$12,351 CDN for those that care.

On a more decisively positive note, the Calgary Flames (and especially Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff) had a stellar November, capped off by a 5-0 dominating win in Nashville tonight. Unfortunately the Patriots were not able to play anything resembling competent defense in New Orleans. At least my fantasy squad moved to 10-2 this week (defeating the well known Chicago Joey for the second time this season), despite my having to start Dennis Dixon after Big Ben changed his mind about playing against the Ravens. Lucky for me Joey was starting Matt Ryan at QB who exited with an ankle injury during his first series.

That's all for now, next time I'll post it should contain a screenshot with black stars.

Sometimes One Megadonk Can Make Your Day

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	993,030
SNE Pace:	86,090 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	New Super Mario Bros Wii

After a down right terrible session on Thursday, I pulled out a decent Friday shipping a little over $1k. On another positive note, the Flames shutout the Red Wings in Detroit despite being outshot significantly. It is really great to see Kiprusoff in Vezina form again.

During the latter half of my Friday session one of my 200NL tables had a huge donk running around 75/13 or so. He had built a stack from something like $50 up to $600, but then lost a good bit of the $600 mostly to me in a series of smaller pots, eventually making us both around 200bb deep. He probably was a little tilted towards me at the time the hand below took place. In previous hands he hadn't been completely retarded postflop (though still very bad), but luckily for me he decided to spazz off a 200bb stack my way. I took a fair bit of time deciding on a good river bet size, and settled on a little under pot because he's likely going to be able to fold pairs to an overshove, but even a large bet has plenty of room for him to spazz bluff jam without me being obviously committed.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed)
UTG+1 ($246.05)
MP1 ($194.65)
MP2 ($465.70)
CO ($44.75)
Button ($40)
Hero (SB) ($421.45)
BB ($203)
UTG ($37)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, Q
3 folds, MP2 bets $10, 2 folds, Hero calls $9, 1 fold

Flop: ($22) 7, J, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $10, Hero calls $10

Turn: ($42) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $10, Hero raises to $45, MP2 calls $35

River: ($132) K (2 players)
Hero bets $113, MP2 raises to $400.70 (All-In), Hero calls $243.45 (All-In)

Total pot: $844.90 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had A, Q (flush, Ace high).
MP2 had 5, 8 (one pair, fives).
Outcome: Hero won $841.90

Your New Class President Is...

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	984,275
SNE Pace:	85,555 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	New Super Mario Bros Wii

Not too much to report lately, finishing the home stretch grind to SNE slowly but surely. SNE ETA is November 30th or so. My FFB team went to 9-2 this Sunday (sorry Schwatt) which should clinch me a playoff spot. Today I spent some time doing some minor home renovation work, which is still in progress.

When I checked the SSFR board at 2+2 this morning, I saw that Vinivici (a regular at my stakes and one of the biggest winners, also a participant in earlier mentioned FFB league) had posted a list of SSFR all stars (that's small stakes full ring for the uninitiated). You can find the thread here. I appreciate that I am mentioned first, though it occurs to me that had any other SSFR regular made the thread, Vini himself would very likely be in that spot. I guess my ego is lucky that it was he who authored it. By far my favorite part of the post was Coordi's entry, comparing him to LT - you sort of have to be a Stars SSFR reg (and an NFL fan, obviously) to fully appreciate it, but I assure you that it is brilliant.

Bork Bork.... Bork?

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	976,542
SNE Pace:	88,782 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	New Super Mario Bros Wii

After an utter thrashing at the hands of the Chicaco Blackhawks, the Flames placed foward Rene Borque on the IR (despite the fact after sustaining his injury he stayed in the game and actually fought with a few seconds remaining). This is very bad news, as he has been our best forward so far. I suspect he has a mild concussion, and hopefully won't be out longer than a week.

I've been running absolutely god-awful of late, though on Friday I managed to just run a little bad (only $250 below AIEV) and shipped a nice +$1.5k profit day. I'll post two hands from the last couple days below, my favorite beat and my favorite non-beat.

Villain is some random fish. Even though it's only a half stack, I'd like to think that 97.5% equity is enough to occasionally win a pot. Note that if he makes a full house using the ace of spades or nine of spades I make a straight flush.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)
CO ($18.50)
Button ($45)
SB ($106.20)
Hero (BB) ($121.95)
UTG ($25)
UTG+1 ($14)
MP1 ($34.70)
MP2 ($22)
MP3 ($72.90)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, Q
6 folds, Button bets $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($6.50) J, 9, 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $5, Hero raises to $13, Button calls $8

Turn: ($32.50) A (2 players)
Hero bets $13, Button calls $13

River: ($58.50) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $36.50, Button calls $16 (All-In)

Total pot: $90.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had A, A (full house, Aces over nines).
Hero had K, Q (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: Button won $87.50

This next hand has some strategy value so I'll comment street by street. The villain who opens is a nitty FPP pro who occasionally spazzes out. The 3 bettor is an active 2p2er and decent TAG type player.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed)
UTG ($202)
UTG+1 ($485.95)
MP1 ($203)
MP2 ($212.05)
MP3 ($200)
CO ($239.95)
Hero (Button) ($263)
SB ($126.30)
BB ($539.65)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, 9
2 folds, MP1 bets $6, 3 folds, Hero calls $6, 1 fold, BB raises to $22, MP1 calls $16, Hero calls $16

My call of the 3bet is definitely questionable, despite the excellent price being given, and being in position. I think it's marginal but ok.

Flop: ($67) 7, 9, 7 (3 players)
BB bets $44, MP1 calls $44, Hero calls $44

At this point I'm obviously just trying to maximize value. Anything I do is going to look super strong, especially after MP1 calls. The only real positive is that people don't like to give people credit on paired boards, and it is very possible that I would flat KK preflop vs MP1's original open (although if I did, I probably would have backraised his 3bet...) BB might be aware enough to realize this, though it may just be wishful thinking on my part. I suppose I could also have flush draws in my range.

Turn: ($199) 6 (3 players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, Hero bets $65, BB calls $65, 1 fold

I elect to bet a really gay amount here, expecting AA to jam and KK to perhaps make a crying call. I think checking is fine as well.

River: ($329) A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $132 (All-In), BB calls $132

When I first saw the river I threw up a little in my mouth. However, after villain checks he basically never has AA. He either has a stubborn KK (maybe even QQ), or a hand like AdXd which just binked some showdown value but really doesn't want to put anymore money in the pot. Since I was quite positive he'd open jam AA every time (or have gotten it in on the turn), I shove for value and am happy to see a call.

Total pot: $593 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 9, 9 (full house, nines over sevens).
BB had A, 10 (two pair, Aces and sevens).
Outcome: Hero won $590

MoJo Westbrook'd Me

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	964,012
SNE Pace:	89,952 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)

The weekend has been disappointingly break even poker wise, but I've been thoroughly entertained by sports happenings in the past 24 hours.

First, my fantasy squad will be moving to 8-2 (and remain in first place) after squeaking out a second win over fellow Stars regular Vinivici's team today. This despite my stud RB Maurice Jones-Drew pulling a Brian Westbrook on me. Instead of running untouched into the end zone for a TD with 80 seconds to play, he (smartly, granted) took a knee on a one yard line, allowing the clock to run down and the Jaguars to kick a game ending field goal. He apologized to fantasy owners after the game.

The Calgary Stampeders won their divisional playoff match up against Edmonton today. One more win and they'll advance to the Grey Cup which is being played in Calgary this year (the Stamps are defending champs, repeat one time).

The Flames played a terrible game against a really bad Toronto team on Saturday night, but thanks to an exceptional effort from Kipper and passable efforts from Iginla and Boyd still managed to win 5-2. Winning despite playing poorly is the sign of a good team, right?

Today I booked flights to Nassau in the Bahamas for myself and my girlfriend. We will be attending the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure as one of my two SNE tourneys (I'll reach SNE around the 30th of this month). The vacation will be from January 4th to 12th, we'll be staying in an upgraded Cove suite in the Atlantis resort. I'm really looking forward to the water park, dolphin/sea lion habitats and snorkel activities. Maybe I'll run good in the $10k buy-in main event too, who knows?

Finally, I finished Disgaea 2 a day or two ago. Or I thought I did. It turns out the PSP remake has a whole additional game that becomes unlocked after you finish the original, so I am enjoying that content. My roommate texted me to say he picked up the new Mario multiplayer platformer for the Wii a few hours ago, so I imagine we'll be playing through that over the next couple of days. My girlfriend is still working her way through Dragon Age Origins and making good use of my surround sound gaming speakers in the process.

Unecessary, But Awesome Nonetheless

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	949,948
SNE Pace:	89,588 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)

On Monday I elected to take a day off poker and ended up purchasing some Logitech G51 Computer Speakers. I had been toying with the idea of getting surround sound speakers for my PC for some time, and finally pulled the trigger. I did my homework and despite no longer being produced, the G51s had such glowing reviews I tracked down some old stock and picked them up. I also bought Dragon Age Origins for the PC. I'm not the biggest fan of "Western" style RPGs, but it had been reviewed very well and I do have a brand new gaming PC to use, so the decision was easy. It seems like it should be a very good time, though my girlfriend has spent more time with it so far than I have. She really likes it, and thankfully doesn't have the same bias against western style RPGs that I do.

Another positive, my fantasy football team the Nit City Nutpeddlers moved to 7-2 this week and continue to lead the league consisting of mostly small stakes Pokerstars regulars. The Flames won 1-0 in Montreal tonight thanks to a stellar shutout performance from Kiprusoff, improving to a very respectable 11-4-1 on the season. We'll start planning the cup parade shortly.

Finally, here's a fun hand from my Tuesday session. A few minutes previous to this hand villain (a megadonk, obviously) won a 400bb pot with a reg in which his J7o made the second nut straight versus the reg's middle set. I'm obviously not raise/shoving the flop because I think I have any fold equity, it's pure value against his range.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed)
MP3 ($212)
Hero (CO) ($233)
Button ($248.05)
SB ($227)
BB ($242.95)
UTG ($200)
UTG+1 ($250)
MP1 ($200)
MP2 ($817.45)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, Q
3 folds, MP2 bets $4, 1 fold, Hero raises to $17, 3 folds, MP2 raises to $30, Hero calls $13

Flop: ($63) 3, 6, 4 (2 players)
MP2 bets $2, Hero raises to $50, MP2 raises to $98, Hero raises to $203 (All-In), MP2 calls $105

Turn: ($469) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($469) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $469 | Rake: $3

Results:
MP2 had A, J (high card, Ace).
Hero had A, Q (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won $467

Musings

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	942,279
SNE Pace:	92,879 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)

I feel like I've got an awful lot of stuff to talk about, so I'm going to try a point form format until I get to a funny HH.

• I'm running like complete ass this month so far.


• On Friday I managed to make right around ~$2k with rakeback, yet I've never been so mad about a $2k day. It could have very easily been my best day ever had I run mediocre instead of laughable. The 17k hands I ground out is one of the highest volume days I've put in this year.


• The one hand I actually had hold up where a fish wasn't already drawing dead ended up being my second largest pot ever won, stacking two fish at 400nl. They both had between 50 and 70 BBs behind.


• It is fortunate so many people are willing to stack off drawing dead or I'd be an FPP pro.


• I'm a good ways into Disgaea 2 for the PSP, which is actually very entertaining. For some reason I expected the plot/characters to be inferior to Disgaea 1 and 3, but they aren't. The only downside to Disgaea games is they all use the exact same engine, same classes, same monsters, etc. Never anything new besides plot/special characters.


• I did not finish Persona for the PSP, though I am near the end. The game just got tedious and unfun. To start off I was impressed that its combat system was a step up from the more recent entries in the series, but its plot/story/other gameplay ended up being so vastly inferior that I moved on. At least the Persona 3 remake for the PSP will be guaranteed awesome when it is released.


• The new 2D Mario platformer for the Wii is going to have wicked fun multiplayer. My roomate and I are almost through the Wii VC version of Secret of Mana, my undisputed favorite game of all time. SoM has really aged well. That Square-Enix hasn't announced plans to release Seiken Densetsu 3 (SoM sequel) for the Wii VC is criminal.


• The Flames won two overtime games in a row on the road, basically due to strong goaltending in each. Surprisingly, one of the two performances came from backup Curtis McElhinny. The Flames host the Rangers in about 17 hours.

Finally, here's a really funny HH from Friday. I obviously mislick the flop, and villain times down before he shoves. Villain is a reg, but seems to be on the casual side compared to most. He isn't very good and is somewhat on the loose/weak side (he runs 17/7). Villain most definitely is aware that my flop bet is a misclick.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)
MP3 ($103.35)
CO ($118.30)
Hero (Button) ($100)
SB ($45.90)
BB ($104.10)
UTG ($188.50)
UTG+1 ($130.20)
MP1 ($73.05)
MP2 ($125.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, Q
6 folds, Hero bets $3, 1 fold, BB calls $2

Flop: ($6.50) 7, 4, Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $46.50, BB raises to $101.10 (All-In), Hero calls $50.50 (All-In)

Turn: ($200.50) 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($200.50) J (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $200.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had K, Q (one pair, Queens).
BB had Q, 10 (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $197.50